Seven die in predawn attack in Maluku<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post
\nAmbon\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Seven people, including five police officers, died during a
\npredawn attack by unidentified gunmen in troubled Maluku province
\non Monday.<\/p>\n
The attackers hit a Mobile Brigade (Brimob)'s operations
\ncommand post in Loki village, Piru district, West Seram regency
\nat 3 a.m. local time, or 2 a.m. Jakarta time, reportedly using
\nmilitary standard-issue firearms. An attacker and a civilian were
\nalso killed in the incident.<\/p>\n
\"We don't know the identity of the attackers yet, only that
\nthey numbered around six people and used automatic weapons,\"
\nMaluku Police spokesman Comr. Endro Prasetyo told The Jakarta
\nPost on Monday.<\/p>\n
The officers killed in the incident were Brig. Roni Susanto,
\nBrig. Hasanuddin, Brig. Teguh Arif Priyanto, First Brig. Slamet
\nHaryanto and Chief Brig. Damanik. Five other police officers
\nbased at the post survived. They were part of East Kalimantan
\npolice deployed to Maluku.<\/p>\n
A civilian, Simon Petrus Saepali, 23, who worked in the post
\nas a cook, was also shot dead. Meanwhile, the police have yet to
\nidentify the dead attacker.<\/p>\n
\"The attackers might have received training as the dead from
\nBrimob were mostly shot in the head,\" Endro said.<\/p>\n
He said that from his smashed cheekbone, it looked like the
\ndead attacker had been shot at close range by the other
\nattackers. \"Maybe, they did this to prevent us from tracking them
\ndown. If he had lived, he could have divulged their identities,\"
\nEndro said.<\/p>\n
Later on Monday, the bodies of the dead officers were taken to
\nBhayangkara Police Hospital in Ambon by boat.<\/p>\n
The police also seized weapons and ammunition left behind by
\nthe attackers.<\/p>\n
The paramilitary police officers had been based in Loki
\nvillage, some 40 kilometers away from the West Seram regental
\ncapital of Piru, for the last five months.<\/p>\n
Endro said the attackers reportedly came from the sea by
\nspeedboat, and that the attack appeared to be well planned as the
\nattackers had concentrated their assault on the police post.<\/p>\n
\"After conducting the attack, they returned to the beach and
\nleft by speedboat,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The village has no electricity as power infrastructure in the
\narea was destroyed during the long conflict in the province. \"The
\ngunmen organized their attack in such a way that when the
\nshooting started, the officers, who were sleeping at the time,
\npanicked and became easy targets,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The police also suspected that some of the attackers were
\ninjured in the incident after finding blood stains at the
\nlocation. \"So far, we're still collecting information from local
\npeople,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The chief of the Maluku Police's criminal investigation unit,
\nSr. Comr. Bambang Hermanu, said that three witnesses had been
\nquestioned over the incident. They were speedboat driver Libid
\nand his crew members, Anggato and Rinto.<\/p>\n
Pattimura military commander Maj. Gen. Syarifudin Summah told
\njournalists on Monday that he had deployed a team to Loki to find
\nwho was responsible for the attack, had placed a company of
\nsoldiers in Piri at the disposal of the police.<\/p>\n
Separately, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis
\ntold the Post on Monday that the police had not identified any
\nconnection between the attackers and South Maluku Republic (RMS)
\nsupporters.<\/p>\n
\"Right now, we're investigating the case to find out who the
\nattackers were and what was their motive was as all of the Brimob
\nofficers were shot at close range in the head,\" Zainuri said.<\/p>\n
So far, he said, the police could only say that the attackers
\nwere a \"group of unidentified persons\". \"We haven't even
\nidentified the dead attacker found at the crime scene,\" Zainuri
\nadmitted.<\/p>\n
The police, he said, would conduct ballistic tests on the
\nweapons and ammunition recovered at the scene.<\/p>",
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